"My people came to me, Dan Coats came to me, some others, they said they think it's Russia", Trump said at the news conference.

"America and the European Union are best friends".

Of the summit, Tusk said: "We are all aware of the fact that the architecture of the world is changing before our very eyes and it is our common responsibility to make it a change for the better". He is expected to leave the United Kingdom later after staying at his Turnberry resort on Scotland's Ayrshire coast during the private leg of his visit.

Vladimir Putin of Russian Federation and Donald Trump of the U.S. are holding their first dedicated meeting in the Finnish capital since the latter took office following the 2016 United States presidential election.The relationship between the two countries is arguably at its lowest point since the end of the Cold War. "I'm not going with high expectations".

Editor-in-chief Kaius Nieme also explained that the banners are intended as a display of support for "colleagues who have to fight in ever toughening circumstances on a daily basis both in the USA and Russian Federation", noting that both countries sit pretty far down on the 2018 World Press Freedom Index.

The meeting was condemned in advance by an assortment of members of Congress from both parties after the US indictment last week of 12 Russians accused of hacking Democrats in the 2016 election to help Trump.

Russian President Vladimir Putin and his U.S. counterpart Donald Trump have met in the Finnish capital Helsinki to talk about "everything from trade to military to missiles to China".

The first one he named was the European Union, traditionally a close ally to the U.S.

"We think Finland's a great country", Trump said, thanking Niinisto for his support at a contentious North Atlantic Treaty Organisation summit last week in Brussels.

Undeterred, the American president is set to go face to face with Mr Putin, the authoritarian leader for whom he has expressed admiration.

"You know, I've called it a carve-out for this".

As he has done before, Trump attacked the investigation led by special counsel Robert Mueller into Russian election interference. "We are the two great nuclear powers", he said.

That's because talks between the USA and Russian Federation could be viewed by Putin's inner circle as evidence Washington is finally willing to recognize Moscow as a great power on the worldwide stage.

The Republican senator from Arizona also called the press conference in Helsinki a "recent low point" in the history of the presidency and called the summit "a tragic mistake".

As of Friday, the inquiry has indicted 32 people - mostly Russian nationals in absentia - as well as three companies and four former Trump advisers. Russia's constitution prohibits extraditing its citizens to foreign countries.

The meeting between Trump and Putin is likely to take place for several hours and the two presidents will address a joint news conference after it, according to the Russian presidential aide Yuri Ushakov.

Trump is also once again blaming his predecessor, Barack Obama, for failing to stop Russia's efforts in the 2016 election. Bolton described the meeting as "unstructured" and said: "We're not looking for concrete deliverables here".